CONSUMER SENTIMENT UNEXPECTEDLY FALLS

Flickr / Ray Dumas
The University of Michigan's preliminary read on consumer sentiment in July was a bit disappointing.

The headline index slipped to 81.3 from 82.5 in June.

Economists estimated the headline index would climb to 83.0.

The economic conditions sub-index climbed to 97.1 from 96.6.

However, the outlook sub-index fell to 71.1 from 73.5.

"The rise in gasoline prices was behind the dip in consumer confidence in July," said Capital Economics' Paul Diggle. "But rising equity prices and the improving labour market should help consumer confidence to increase before too long."